


as heavy hearted as a feather with no wind

by confessionofaking



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: Advice, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Going Off of Antidepressants, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Sad with a Happy Ending, Trans Pat Schneider, Yelling, s02e09 Hello Penelope, that’s not relevant to the fic i just think it’s worth sharing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-25 07:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18256394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/confessionofaking/pseuds/confessionofaking
Summary: An exploration of what we didn’t see in Hello, Penelope.Or, the aftermath of Penelope going off on Schneider.





	as heavy hearted as a feather with no wind

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I recently got into ODAAT and I’m in love with the show. The point of this fic is to kind of explore the more sensitive side of Schneider, because we don’t see a whole lot of that in the show. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Title: Lonesome Soul - The Color Morale

“You have _no_ idea where I’m coming from! You’ve had everything in your life handed to you, you had to get hooked on drugs just to be interesting!” Penelope snapped. Schneider felt his heart sink at her words. She wasn’t completely wrong, he had had everything handed to him, but the last part was hard to hear, especially from her.

Schneider shifted on his feet, trying to keep his emotions in check. He gave her a fake smile. “You don’t sound like yourself. I’m gonna go,” he said, before speeding out of the apartment.

He paused once he got down the hallway. He knew she didn’t mean those things. She wouldn’t have said them if she weren’t off her antidepressants. Still, her words stung. He wiped his eyes, shocked to find that he was crying. He exhaled shakily, desperately trying to keep it together, before sprinting up the stairs, two steps at a time. 

As he made it to his apartment and crashed on his couch, he pulled out his phone and called his sponsor.

He needed a drink.

After he got off the phone, he took a nap. It wasn’t a great nap, he kept tossing and turning, barely able to sleep because he was too worried about Penelope.

Yeah, she hurt his feelings. But that also wasn’t her talking. He refused to believe that the woman that yelled at him like that was the same woman he’d come to love after all these years. 

Knowing that he wasn’t in the best mental space, Schneider packed his bag and headed to the gym. A good workout would help, he decided.

When he got home, he found Lydia standing outside his door, looking concerned. “Is everything okay?”

“No, _mijo_ , I am worried about Lupe. She’s been in bed all evening, she even missed dinner. Who misses a meal that I have made!” Lydia looked up at him. “How come you were not at dinner?” 

In hindsight, he should’ve seen that coming. “Oh, I just wasn’t feeling great, so I took a nap earlier and then I decided to hit the gym. I’ll be over for breakfast in the morning.” She smiled sadly at him, pulling him into a hug before speaking again.

“Okay. You take care of yourself, please come over if you need to.” 

“You know I will. Tell the kids I’m gonna crush them at Mario Kart tomorrow!” They laughed in unison as she made her way down the stairs.

Schneider headed back into his apartment, needing a shower.

The next few days passed by as usual.

Well, as normal as they could get without Penelope’s presence. She only left her room when necessary, and everyone was concerned about her at that point.

It was three in the morning when Schneider was sitting on the couch, mindlessly scrolling through instagram to try and distract himself when someone knocked on his door. 

It was Penelope. He pushed his hurt down long enough to be grateful that she was okay, or at least okay enough to get out of bed. And then that hurt came back when he asked if she was planning on yelling at him some more. 

And then she broke down. Played him the voice recording she had made, and let him talk her down. 

“I’m really sorry about all that crap I said to you.” She said, looking him in the eyes.

“Ah, that’s okay, I can take it. We’re best friends!” He grinned, scooting closer to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Oh man,” she said, wiping her nose. “I think you might actually be my best friend.” 

Schneider opened his mouth to comment, but she beat him to the punch. “Now I’m really depressed.” He couldn’t help but laugh at her statement. That sounded more like the Penelope he knew.

“Damn girl, I see how it is. You wake me up at three in the morning for advice and _this_ is the thanks I get?”

“Cut the crap, Schneider, you know as well as I do you’re never asleep when this happens.” 

“And now you sound like yourself again.” He smiled down at her. 

She sighed, meeting his eyes. “Yeah, I’m gonna go back on the antidepressants. I don’t ever wanna feel like this again. Knowing I hurt you, and worried the kids and my mom? That’s the worst part of this.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Pen. And I know there’s a lot of stigma behind mental illness and medication, but Max is a good guy. He loves you. He’ll understand why you need to take them. If he doesn’t, he’s not worth your time.” Schneider said.

Penelope nodded, feeling a lot better after their talk. “Thank you, Schneider. For always being my rock.” She said.

He stood up, holding out his hand to help her up. “Anytime, best friend. Now go get some sleep.”

“You know I would do the same for you if you needed it, right? Anytime you need help, I’m here for you.”

“I know. Thank you, Pen.” He pulled her into a final hug before she went back to her apartment. Once Schneider shut and locked the door, he laid down on his bed and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

He was getting his best friend back.


End file.
